themselves what was going on; to see them questioning the reality of their situation. Sato was too ready to accept her condition and as such most of the story revolved around her confirming her fears. There was no interesting conflict here; nothing for the character or the viewer to really grapple with.

It reminds me of an episode of TNG's Barclay and how he was at odds with being transported in TNG's "Realm of Fear". He saw something in the transporter beam but thought he was hallucinating. His fears were interesting as we, the viewers, knew there was something going on. It was real. Here we know something is wrong but it doesn't ring true enough. If this had been the first time we see this type of episode, I'd have said it was a very good one. But having seen this storyline before, it was way too predictable. In TNG's "The Next Phase", Ro Laren accepts her fate but Geordi doesn't. This questioning of their predicament is what adds tension to the story. Moreover, the alien threat (the Romulans) was real and added to the suspense.

Of course it fits in with Hoshi's character to have fears but at the end of the episode she states she would much prefer using shuttlepods so there is no advancement to her character as such. It would be so much more interesting if they focused on her linguistic capabilities and gave us some interesting episode about communication a la TNG's "Darmok". Still, we do see her being courageous nonetheless as she is willing to go on the aliens transporter pad to save the ship and so there is "some" character growth.

One thing I found humerous was the use of the "Morse Code". I know it's been used before in Trek in "Star Trek: The Final Frontier" and it was funny there but here it just seems silly.

I liked the music in this episode but it didn't really work well. The tension just wasn't there. The aliens placing bombs on the ship just didn't add any suspense, at least not enough to go with the music.

Other than that, I liked Linda Park's (Hoshi) performance. She did a good job. Also, it was nice to see Keone Young again as Hoshi's father. He played Buck Bokai in DS9's "If Wishes Were Horses".